Author: Atanu Dey

Economist.

On the not reading of big fat books

People don’t need a 1/4″ drill bit; they need a 1/4″ hole. That observation made by a business school professor (I forget who) is a perpetual favorite of mine. It cautions us against confusing means and ends. I believe that much misery of our mundane lives arises from our inability to distinguish between means and ends. Let me tell you a story. Stop me if you have heard it before — which you may have since I repeat it often enough.
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Open Thread: Leaving on a Jet Plane

I’m leaving on a jet plane. For friends and family who want to check where my flights are, go to Track Flights, and enter EK as the airline code (Emirates) and flight number 226 to Dubai. This will work only after the flight departs at 15:45 Sunday PST. Later I will take flight EK 500 from Dubai to Mumbai which departs on Monday 10:30 PM Dubai time. That flight arrives in India at 2:30 AM on Tuesday.

Modern technology is amazing.

Dr Manmohan Singh is Pitiable

I am torn between contempt and pity for the small man that Dr Manmohan Singh is. Does the man have no shame? Do guts? No spine? Apparently there’s nothing in him that is of any value. He traded in his integrity — that is if he had any to start off with — to become the appointed prime minister. But he could have grown a backbone and redeemed himself. If not for himself, at least for the sake of the clan to which he belong, the proud fearless warrior clan of Sikhs.
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Like the NREGA, the RTE helps destroy whatever is left

The NREGA, as feared, has caused tremendous harm and will continue to play havoc on the Indian economy. The Right to Education (RTE) is another act that will surely help destroy whatever little there is left of the Indian education system. It is as if the UPA led by the Congress has sworn to destroy India. Go read what Manish Sabharwal has to say about the RTE in the Economic Times of Jan 12th. An extract below the fold, for the record:
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Corruption Matters

I believe that corruption is as significant an indicator of a diseased economy as cancer is of a diseased body. If unchecked, it will eventually kill. Corruption is organized violence against the people of a poor country which kills them as surely as putting them into concentration camps, extracting hard labor, starving them, and then pushing them into gas ovens.
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Happy Birthday, Swami Vivekananda

            Swami Vivekananda
            12 Jan 1863 -- 4 July 1902

Swami Vivekananda was born on this day, January 12th, in 1863 in Kolkata. Here is a quote from the wiki entry on him. Continue reading “Happy Birthday, Swami Vivekananda”

In India the corrupt get power, and the absolutely corrupt get absolute power

Reading Aroon Purie’s India Today (Jan 10th issue) editorial reminded me of what you need to have to live a fulfilling life and happy life: only three simple things — robust health, killer looks, and a humongous bank balance. Here’s why.
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Levels of Corruption

CORRUPTION TABLE

1 Lac = 1 Peti
1 Crore = 1 Khoka
500 Crore = 1 Koda
1,000 Crore = 1 Radia
10,000 Crore = 1 Kalmadi
100,000 Crore = 1 Raja
10 KALMADI + 1 RAJA = 1 SHARAD PAWAR
10 SHARAD PAWAR = 1 Madam

Ruling a Banana Republic Does not Require Special Qualifications

Item: Captain John Wright, 58, is retiring as a senior pilot. He has had a distinguished flying career with 35 years of sitting in the left hand seat in the cockpit, much of it of heavies like the Boeing 747s and Airbus 340s. But it’s time that he hangs up his wings and retires from a job well done. Bluesky Air, the airline that Captain Wright served so competently, has announced that on Capt Wright’s retirement next month, his seat will be occupied by his son Jack. Jack will move from his job as a janitor at Burger King to be the chief pilot at Bluesky Air. He will fly the planes that his father flew.
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